The Sun She Is Arisin'! On another cruisin season that is!

The hummingbirds left and the canada geese have arrived.  We need to follow the birds and head 'souther'!  Since we live in the south it doesn't make sense to say we will head south, so 'souther' it is!!  We are down to12 days and counting.  Our housesitters will show up next week and then we're gone! 

It's hard to believe it is time to go again - the summer flew by and we didn't get much accomplished that's for sure.  Jeff has worked all summer and is feeling the pressure of what needs to be done before we leave.  His biggest project is building a new watermaker for the boat.  The parts and pieces are piling up in the garage, with UPS and FEDX making daily deliveries to us for that project as well as others.  He could've purchased a watermaker already assembled and ready to install, but he decided he wanted to build it himself.  Besides being less expensive, I think he just wanted the challenge.  Looks like he got his wish!

And so, another cruising season is about to begin.  We are looking forward to meeting up with old friends as well as meeting new ones this season.  Follow along with us as we get underway.

The Sun has set on another cruising season

Well....................... we're back home in Tennessee and I feel like we've just moved!!  What with all the packing up, loading, driving, unloading, unpacking  ..............   we have waaaaaayyyyy too much 'stuff' ..........everywhere!!!!!  It's time to start sifting through it all and thinning it out.  We lived without alot of this 'stuff' for the last 8 months, surely we can live without some of it forever!!!!  It is good to be home though - life is easier here in many ways.  Neither of us is counting the amps we use or the water either, which equates to not running into walls in the dark and being able to take a shower without having to worry whether all the soap and shampoo are rinsed off.  You laugh, but try walking around your house without lights at night or better yet with a miner's lamp on your forehead and then try taking a shower like this:

• Get under the showerhead and turn the water on without letting it heat up and only turn on a little bit and just let it run long enough to get you semi-wet.
• Turn off water.
• Lather up you and all your parts, as well as your head.
• Turn on the water just enough so that you can quickly rinse you, your parts, and your head - don't take too long cause the water tank is not very big and if you take too long you won't have water for other things like brushing your teeth, making coffee, washing dishes tomorrow, shower tomorrow, the next day and the next day.  Get the picture??!!  You'll get used to it!

The pups are adjusting as well as we are - there are plenty of squirrels and lizards to chase to keep them busy and as long as we are close by they are quite happy.  They still let us know when it is 4:00, which is a good thing cause we may miss happy hour otherwise ........... not likely though. 

We had Kate and John (the grandkids) with us last week and had a great time!  It was so good to hold them and snuggle up with them again.  I've missed them and they are growing up so fast!

This will more than likely be our last post til next fall since we have no current plans to go anywhere til then.  We do plan to cruise again next winter/spring and would like to go further south in the Bahamas........we'll see.

Hope you enjoyed the trip this season!!

Time to head back to Tennessee

Wellllllllll...................the time has come to head back home to Tennessee.

We got the boat back in the water last Friday evening and made the trip back to our slip in New Smyrna Beach on Saturday.  We were even able to back it in, thanks to our new bow thruster - YEAH!!!!!!!!!  We love our new addition!!!  Why didn't we part with that money before??!!  It was pretty scary watching that big hole being drilled through the bottom of the boat, but the installation was very professional and smooth going - only took 2 1/2 days .  We can't say enough positive things about FloridaBowThruster.com and our experience with them.

Cutting the hole for the thruster



The finished thing!!!!


We are in the process of off-loading 'stuff' from the boat to the camper and will start home next Sunday. 

Can't wait to see Kate and John!!!!!!!!!

Back to the Land of Plenty!!

We've arrived safe and sound in New Smyrna Beach - actually got here a week ago last Friday.  We had a good crossing from the Abacos on the previous Tuesday, spent a couple of days in Vero Beach to catch up on our lost night of sleep(during the crossing) as well as clear back through customs into the USA.  We caught no fish, NADA, NOTHING, ZIP coming back across and that did not sit too well with either of us so we decided to contribute to the local economy in Vero and bought another rod and reel and more tackle for the next trip.  Our logic was that two poles in the water would be much better than one and it was fresh on our minds and we would undoubtedly forget come next fall, plus we'd just been at the bar next door talking about how disappointed we were.  But I'm sure the alcohol consumption had nothing to with that purchase!

We are so spoiled living in the US (the land of plenty) - we so take it for granted that we can get whatever we want/need whenever we want to.  Went to Publix a couple of days ago and I normally hate grocery shopping, but I actually did not mind this trip.  It was quite pleasant to see everything marked with a price (instead of guessing how much it was going to cost) and the prices were so cheap compared with what we've been paying for the last 5 months.  The last loaf of bread I bought in the Bahamas was $4.75 and I paid $2.99 PLUS it was Buy One Get One Free!!!  Bought two porterhouse steaks for $7.99/lb instead of $14.99; crackers were $3.69/pkg instead of $5.99.  I'm sure it won't take long to get used to these prices and I'll be among those bellyaching about the high prices here, but right now I'm happy to pay them!!!

As I said we're back in NSB and feeling quite comfortable and at home here.  We made it here in time for the classic car show and have been to Maloney's (one of our favorite hang-outs) to guzzle down a few Blue Moon Drafts .............. and they were oh so good!!!  Been missing them!  Tuesday nights are another Maloney's night, as Jason and Matt play then and we only have so many opportunities to hear them.

  We do so love NSB - there are all kinds of places within a short walk and the beach itself is only a little farther and if we were really ambitious we could walk there, but we are slugs and drive when we want to go.

Jeff is already ordering new equipment and making plans for work to be done on the boat in the very near timeframe.  We are fortunate in that we know a couple of guys here in NSB that are very good at pretty much anything we need them to do.  One is a diesel mechanic and the other does everything else.  Jeff usually fixes/repairs/installs everything on the boat, but there are some things even he doesn't want to do so that is when we call TR or Diesel Rick.  The new stove/oven came in Thursday and Jeff helped TR install it on Friday.  The installation went very smooth - no name calling, no screaming.

Jeff had his semi-annual haircut a few days ago.

We don't know how long we're going to be in NSB or where we're going to leave the boat for the summer.  We're looking at Jacksonville, Fl. and Brunswick, Ga, but who knows what we will decide.  In the near term we are having the boat hauled in Cape Canaveral Tuesday for some work and will then bring it back to NSB.

Since it is so stinking hot here we naturally have the a/c on and that means we have two streams of water coming out of the side of the boat all the time.  Check out the picture below and see what that attracts.

That would be a Manatee

Till next time!

Bahamas Billfish Tournament

The billfish tournament went from Thursday through Saturday and we watched from the boat as they came right past our stern for the flags they fly (click on the picture below and you can see the flags) indicating the kind of billfish caught that day. The flags are colored to signify the particular kind of fish caught - white flag with a blue fish is a blue marlin; blue flag with a white fish is a white marlin; white flag with blue fish with large top fin is a sailfish; and don't know what the flag looks like for a spearfish because no one caught one.

 There were 36 boats in the tournament and there are five tournament segments in the Bahamas Billfish Championship with each 'week-long' segment/tournament in a different location and they all accumulate for the grand champion of the overall billfish tournament. It's all based on points and they get points for fish other than billfish, just not as many. Here's the website for this year's Championship  http://www.bahamasbillfish.com/bbc_results/2011_results/
in case you're interested in more info. It's pretty exciting just to walk the docks after they come in and see what else they've caught. 

We also like to check out the names of the boats as well as where they come in from.  The best name this year has to be 'Chasin Tail' out of Ft. Pierce, Fl.

This year's winner for this first segment of the tournament went to 'Bear Trap' out of none other than Lookout Mountain, Tn. 

We met the owner on Friday - John Stout.  Obviously this is a very rich man's sport.  We were told the big gold reels on the fishing poles cost about $10K each!!!!!! 

 Entry for each segment of the tournament is about $3K and if you are lucky enough to win the overall championship the prize money is $10K.  Sounds like a lot, but when you factor in that they use in the neighborhood of $2K diesel fuel each day it's not even enough to begin to cover your cost!  Some of these numbers can be verified on the tournament website, but the others were given to us by one of the boat owners.  When you figure that diesel fuel was $5.62/gal at the start of the tournament and they use several hundred gallons or more each day it's not hard to see it add up.  OUCH!!!!

Brian & Mel's Visit was toooooo short!!!

The week came and went so fast!!!  Brian & Melanie left us this morning - we hated to see it end - we had such a good time - even if we did have a little nasty weather in the middle!  We didn't get to take them everywhere we wanted to but they got a pretty good feel for the area and the hard life we are enduring. 

We were able to go to Guana Cay for a day and believe it or not they both (as well as us) got nipped (at Nipper's) and grabbed (at Grabber's).  We dinghied over to Shell Island so Brian and Jeff could snorkle and Melanie & I could look for shells.  Lots of shells to be had and Brian found numerous conchs, although we didn't keep any of them.  He found two Helmet Conchs that were not smelling very good but sure are beautiful!  We are dragging them behind the boat in a net bag to see if the small fish will eat the remains out of them so we can take them home.  Man O man do they smell bad!!!! 

Off to Hopetown, which they really liked.  They found sea glass on the beach along with numerous sea beans; climbed to the top of the lighthouse; got to see Rake & Scrape while we were there, although it was a mid-day show and very sedate, quite unlike the night time Rake & Scrape, which can get pretty wild and rowdy - but we had a good time anyway.  Went on down to Tahiti Beach for more snorkeling and sandbar walking, along with cleaning a coconut that was oh so good.  It is beautiful there, hence the name!

On to Man O War where the anchorage looks over a little piece of land that is nothing more than a golf cart path on top of the rocks, and then on the other side is the Atlantic Ocean.  Absolutely gorgeous to watch the waves crash in and over the rocks.

Over to Mermaid Reef yesterday morning for more snorkeling.  This is a small reef/coral area outside of Marsh Harbour and you wouldn't expect to really see anything there if you looked at the surroundings, but it is a very nice place to snorkel.  We saw lots and lots of different kinds of fish and some that we had not seen on the ocean side reefs, but we didn't have the barracudas to deal with. 

Back to Treasure Cay yesterday late afternoon, just in time to watch the parade of sport fishing boats coming in from the first day of the billfish tournament.  We'll post more on that after the tournament is over.
 
AND...............somewhere along the way Brian managed to catch a couple of fish, one was a BAF which we couldn't get up to the boat and the other wasn't near as big and we released it.

Lastly - Melanie tried to get off the boat this morning with Chloe in her backpack but got caught!!!!  We struggled but got her back ................ it was close!!

That about sums up our week!!  Any questions??

Dogs mostly............

Just a few pictures of the silly dogs and some of the things they do.

And last but not least ......

Here is last night's sunset - right before the rising full moon

The rising full moon last night

One more last random item...

Our air plants seem to be happy on the boat, just like everything else, and are blooming for the first time, or at least a couple of them are.  We're pretty excited about that!  You'll have to click on the pictures so you can see the blooms.

Mom & Jack's Visit



Gerri & Alan s/v 'Civil Twilight'



Wellllllllll.......... Mom & Jack have come and gone already.  They were here for a week.  We had a great visit even if the weather wasn't the best.  Actually if you went on temperatures and sunshine it was beautiful, but the winds were very strong and always out of the South and Southwest, which makes it very difficult to get to the places you want to go.  They are troopers and had a good time just the same.  We started them off at the Coco Beach Bar as soon as they arrived - we needed to get their livers tuned up immediately although I think they had been working on that before they got here!!  We spent several days in Hopetown which they really liked the last time they were here.  We walked a beach somewhere every day for at least a couple of hours - not many treasures to be found no matter where we walked though.

We had planned on going to the Barefoot Man concert (at Nipper's on Guana Cay) on Friday but it was not to be.  The wind was blowing out of the West and Southwest between 25 and 30 knots.  You can't anchor at Guana in winds like that and the fast boat we had reserved from a local rental company wouldn't let their boats out of the harbor, sooooooooooo we were stuck again and in Treasure Cay, but we couldn't have been stuck in a more beautiful place.  The beach there is one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world (according to National Geographic).  We were so glad that Mom & Jack had been here before and were able to see a number of the islands and spots that we like to show off since we didn't get to do what 'Sojourner' calls the 'Abaco Shuffle'. 

It is the time of the season that many of the winter cruisers are heading back home and this year is no exception.  Some days it's like a mass exodus.  The anchorage may have 30 or more boats and by morning there may only be 10 left, then another 10 or more move in to stage for leaving and you start all over again. 

We've had to say goodbye to a several of our friends already - Charlie & Chris on 'Wingspread' , Rick & Linda on 'Sojourner' and Gerri & Alan on 'Civil Twilight'.  Others will be following shortly, sadly to say.  But it is interesting to meet people that are just now arriving in the Abacos from Florida.  Everyone is on a different schedule of when they arrive and depart.

I guess you're up to date for the time being.  We are looking forward to Brian and Melanie's visit in a couple of weeks and hope the weather will be in our favor for that week.

Fowl Cay National Park

Fowl Cay National Park is a Bahamian underwater sea park located on the ocean side of Fowl Cay just north of Man-O-War Cay.  The park is a protected area – no fishing or taking of live creatures is permitted.  We finally got a calm day and anchored “Salty Dog” on the west side of Fowl Cay and dinghied out to the ocean reefs.  The water temperature is still in the low 70’s, so we donned our shorty wets suits and a snorkeling we went.   It was our best snorkel experience this season. Saw several barracudas and many tropical fish on the reefs - thankfully no sharks.  Most of the 'dive boats take people out to this reef (on a calm day) and we can certainly see why.  We would have liked to stay longer but the tide was coming in fast and it was getting a little rolly for us.  We'd hoped to be able to get back out there today but not going to happen.  We can see the reef from where we're anchored and the waves are breaking over the reef.  What pictures turned out from yesterday are below.  Photographers we are not!  

'SALTY DOG's' Salty Dogs



Do you have something for us??!!



The pups really are having a good time - and they do love their beach time.  Savannah loves to chase the waves and scavenge for any food scraps that someone may have dropped on the beach from a picnic, or a dead smelly fish that has been sundried - it matters not to her which snack - one is as good as the other.  Yesterday it was half of a peanut butter & jelly sandwich covered in sand - YUM YUM!   Chloe is searching as well, but not quite as efficient as Savannah in her scouting ability.  She has discovered the little crabs that wash in with the waves - they are about the size of your thumbnail.  We only see them on the beach at Guana though.  The first one she encountered was quite funny.  She grabbed it and it hung on to her lip - how funny was that - she was shaking her head and twirling around trying to get it loose - which really didn't take much, but quite funny to watch.  On the boat we get a kick out of them sticking their heads in one of the ports in the galley, which is pretty much anytime they can see either of us in there or smell that something is being prepared.  We have to come to call this port 'the drive-thru window' and we hand out tidbits through this port.  Savannah likes to stand on the cabin top above the galley as well and look down in the overhead hatch, but Chloe can't jump up there.  The problem with Savannah standing over the hatch is if I am indeed cooking or have something that she wants she will drool right on top me - not cool!!

We call this 'The Drive Thru' window

Chloe with a little crab



Chasing the waves!  Get 'em Banna!



So now you have an idea of what the dogs are doing, because we have many people ask us how the dogs adapt to being on the boat and how they like it.  Not sure they really like it, but they don't seem to be suffering too badly!

Abaco Water Colors

The colors in and around the Sea of Abaco and the Atlantic beaches. Photographers we’re not. Our photos really don’t do it justice, but impressive none the less.